Are you an artist who likes giving downloads away for free but would like something (besides money) in return from your fans? What if you could exchange a social interaction which helps market your music such as a tweet on Twitter or share on Facebook for the download? This idea of “social currency” is not new, but we’ve made it very easy to do with a new open-source app call SoundCloud-Social-Download.

The app automagically rolls together interactions from four of the biggest social networks (tweet on Twitter, share on Facebook, update on MySpace, & Digg… on Digg) and throws in Email capture for good measure to make the ultimate “social for download” campaign. Once a user completes one of the required interactions, they are served up a secure download straight from your SoundCloud account.

The code is available (and completely free to use, change, etc) on the SoundCloud github. From there you’ll also find step-by-step documentation, walking you through setup, configuration, customization, and deployment. Let us know what you think and please drop us a line if you use the app. If you’re having technical issues, please submit your problem here.

Stay tuned for more open-source apps coming soon…

Did someone say Check in for Download?

P.S. If you’re a developer who is comfortable deploying these open-source apps, we’ve got a ton of SoundCloud artists who could use the help and wouldn’t mind paying for it. Let me know @LeeMartin

Trust that we’re working to make this process as easy as possible, even if we round up a few nerds to hold your hand through the deployment. I noticed you’re using Cashmusic for distribution on your site – good news, because we’re working on integrations with them also!

Awesome work Lee! I’m one of the CASH Music nerds and just wanted to reiterate Lee’s words. We’re working on integrating SoundCloud in our social apps as well as throughout our other offerings. Lee and I will be together at a conference in DC this weekend, so maybe we can carve up some time to brainstorm…

After several valiant days of struggling with this, I’m ready to surrender. So close. http://gentle-sunset-46.heroku.com/ I’d really like to distribute something in this manner. Is there a sympathetic soul who’d be willing to set this up for me?